Talented Sompting Abbotts pupil makes CBeebies voice-over debut

Talented Sompting Abbotts pupil makes CBeebies voice-over debut

Veronica with a picture of her character Crunch

CBeebies’ new popular programme, Olobob Top, features the voice of a pupil from Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School, near Steyning. It was the debut voice-over performance for 10-year-old Veronica Painter who plays an endearing squirrel called Crunch
Olobob Top, screened twice daily by the BBC, follows the fun adventures of characters living in a forest with their friends. One of these is a squirrel called Crunch. She's played by Veronica Painter, a Year 5 pupil from Sompting Abbotts.
Olobob Top also features the vocal talents of the well-known English comic actor Stephen Mangan (I’m Alan Partridge, Have I Got News For You, Postman Pat) and a cast of child actors.

Veronica (known as Roni to her friends) hadn’t done any kind of voice-over work before. But the programme makers learned that she takes singing lessons at Sompting Abbotts, which has an active drama, music and performing arts department.

So she already had experience of performing, voice projection and breathing control and impressed the producers at her audition.

A few weeks later, she learned she had been accepted. 'I was really excited!' Ronni says. 'And even more when I learned about ‘my’ character, a bouncy squirrel called Crunch.'

'The hardest part was matching my voice to the correct expression but the whole experience was brilliant,' she says. 'The best bit, was having the producer make her laugh to record her giggles for the show.'

Roni's first taste of being a child voice-over actor has taught her a lot, she says: 'It's been great learning how a programme is put together.'

So what’s next for Roni now that she has the CBeebies voice-over work experience under her belt? 'I don't have any more work lined up yet but if they do another series I really hope I get asked to join them again. I would love to do more voice-overs for other shows too,' she says.

Since Olobob Top’s launch, the series is now being shown in Wales, Finland, Japan and Australia.